The 2004 hurricanes damaged a sweet gum tree in the middle of
our back yard and we
had to have it removed. Back then it was an eyesore, but now it's a beautiful butterfly garden.

The Transformation

First we cut away all the turf around the stump until we
had a circle that was about six feet in diameter, then we dumped
several wheelbarrow loads of pond muck on top of the stump. (We were
cleaning out the pond out front.) Then we covered the muck with a
few inches of sandy soil. The resulting mound was about two and a half
feet taller than the lawn. Now, four years later, I'm pretty
sure the old stump has rotted and is providing nutrients for our
butterfly island.

That first year I planted some mystery tubers that
the former own had planted in with the canna lilies (Canna
X generalis) on the side of the house. I finally figured
out that these were hidden ginger lilies
(Curcuma zedoaria). The tropical-looking ginger lily
leaves are three feet tall, so they provide a backdrop to everything
else that's planted there, and as you can probably see, one canna
snuck in with the gingers. These big leaves die back in the
winter.

I've tried several types of plants on the mound with
varying degrees of success, and each year we remove a little more
of the lawn so the mound is expanding. I've also added
compost and mulched the mound to keep some of the weeds at bay.
Last year the zinnias (Zinnia
violacea) grew very well there and I wrote about them in
an earlier article. Some soft rush
(Juncus effusus) grew on one side of the mound, and I planted
some perennial Maximillian sunflowers (Helianthus maximiliani)
on the top of the mound that have seeded themselves so there are
now several plants. Last year, the wild aster (Symphyotrichum
spp) was a little too wild, so I've pulled out most it.

<<Two
blazing star stalks, on the left, blend in with the zinnias' colors and
attract their own set of pollinators. The Maximillian sunflower on
the right provides late summer height and clear, strong yellow.

This year I replanted zinnias and have added several
native blazing star bulbs (Liatris spicata). I also planted
some red hot pokers (Kniphofia uvaria), which are native to South
Africa, but they haven't really taken off. Most of the plants I've purchased
were chosen
for their habitat value for butterflies and hummingbirds in the garden.
While the soft rushes don't add much to the butterfly habitat, they
volunteered along the lower edges of the mound and provide a year-round vertical
structure.

One reason for trying a broad selection of perennials is to
have an easier and more dependable way to provide good variety for the butterflies and
hummingbirds. Each year they should continue to grow without my
intervention. While zinnias are easy enough to grow, each year
they need to be replanted. I'd like to get to the point
where all that's required is a quick mulching each year and voilà-a
butterfly and hummingbird paradise.

I hope you will turn an ugly (or hard to maintain) piece
of your landscape into your own butterfly habitat. I think you'll
find it rewarding as we do. My words don't do justice to the
fluttering beauty on butterfly island from April to December.

*
You can tell that it's a female eastern tiger swallowtail because of the blue
spots on the lower sections of the wings.The male is yellow and black, too, but doesn't have the blue.The female could also be mostly black with the blue areas in the
same place on the wings.This is called the dark phase and is more common here in its
southern range. Maybe some of the dark swallowtail butterflies
that I thought were spicebush swallowtails were actually the dark phase
of this tiger. Hmm... I'll have to look at some of those
photos to look for the ghostly stripes hiding in the black.

Ginny Stibolt would like to hear from readers who have suggestions and
questions. After all, there are more than a few transplanted gardeners
Florida trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t in planting zone
8/9. She's wrote, "Sustainable Gardening for Florida," published
by University Press of Florida that was released in 2009. Now she's written
"Organic Methods for Growing Vegetables in Florida" with Melissa
Contreras in Miami. The new book was released in Feb 2013. You may contact
her or read extra details on her articles and other information posted
on her website: www.greengardeningmatters.com.